Watch talks from our previous events.
Alexis Ohanian – How to Make the World Suck Less
Year: 2011Type: TEDxYouth@Midwest
Year: 2011Type: TEDxYouth@Midwest
The magic of the Internet has greatly shifted how audiences take action. Establishing transparency and generating excitement has replaced the old, broken model of motivation through guilt. Alexis Ohanian delivers a delightful and energetic account of how the tech culture drives ideas to rapidly circulate and spur social good.
The magic of the Internet has greatly shifted how audiences take action. Establishing transparency and generating excitement has replaced the old, broken model of motivation through guilt. Alexis Ohanian delivers a delightful and energetic account of how the tech culture drives ideas to rapidly circulate and spur social good.
Alexis Ohanian – How to Make the World Suck Less
Alexis Ohanian – How to Make the World Suck Less
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Year: 2011Type: TEDxYouth@Midwest
In an intimate interview, Sandra Day O'Connor narrates through her personal story from sitting on horses in Texas to sitting on the U.S. Supreme Court Justice. Allison Cuddy follows up by asking about femininity in the legal world, life as a child, and a number of other rich inquiries.
Allison Cuddy – Interview with Sandra Day O’Connor
Allison Cuddy – Interview with Sandra Day O’Connor
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Year: 2011Type: tedx
Alison Levine, a history-making explorer and mountaineer, served as the team captain of the first American Women’s Everest Expedition. In May 2010, she completed the Adventure Grand Slam – climbing the 7 Summits (highest peak on each continent) and skiing to both Poles, an accomplishment fewer than 30 people in the world have achieved.
Allison Levine – Lessons From the Ledge
Allison Levine – Lessons From the Ledge
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Year: 2011Type: tedx
Through dynamic info-graphics and pragmatic insight, Amory Lovins reveals how the US energy consumption can become completely independent from oil & coal. His strategy puts for-profit business at the helm, while unlocking $5 Trillion in savings.
Amory Lovins – The Reinvention of Fire
Amory Lovins – The Reinvention of Fire
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Year: 2011Type: tedx
MacArther Award winner and former at-risk youth, Bill Strickland, elevates impoverished communities by providing dignity through world-class expectations, stunning architecture, sunlight, flowers, affection, and hope.
Bill Strickland – The Manchester Bidwell Story
Bill Strickland – The Manchester Bidwell Story
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Year: 2011Type: tedx
Space travel is closer than you think. Space entrepreneur Dr. Chirinjeev Kathuria became fascinated with space as a young boy. Since then, he co-founded MirCorp which bought the Mir Space Station and began Planet Space - a private enterprise that is revitalizing public space travel and subcontracting cargo flights for NASA. In this talk, he reveals a huge number of initiatives to make space travel accessible and paints a bright future for private citizens in space.
Chirinjeev Kathuria – Private Citizens in Outer Space & the Space Station
Chirinjeev Kathuria – Private Citizens in Outer Space & the Space Station
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Year: 2010Type: tedx
After his successful companies went public, Chirinjeev Kathuria and some friends purchased the MIR space station in 1999. Galactic vacations are on the horizon, ushering in a new era of space travel. We are on the cusp of becoming a space-faring civilization, and private enterprises are at the helm.
Chirinjeev Kathuria – Space Travel and Owning the MIR Space Station
Chirinjeev Kathuria – Space Travel and Owning the MIR Space Station
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Year: 2011Type: tedx
Best selling author and behavioral economics professor Dan Ariely delves into the essence of human motivation. His clever yet brilliantly simple experiments uncover universal truths about human irrationality and increasing motivation.
Dan Ariely – Predictably Irrational – basic human motivations
Dan Ariely – Predictably Irrational – basic human motivations
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Year: 2010Type: tedx
Just five days into his political internship with Representative Gabrielle Giffords, American hero Daniel Hernandez shares the story of how his early education in the health care realm, prepared him to spring into action during a fatal shooting rampage. His bravery has been honored by President Obama.
Daniel Hernandez – An American Hero
Daniel Hernandez – An American Hero
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Year: 2011Type: tedx
There is a fallacy between the relationship of old age and learning a new language. Deb Fallows contradicts this myth delcaring that the mature brain can experience higher level of processing. By applying these strengths she shares how to speed learn Chinese in a delightful and humorous manner.
Deb Fallows – The Linguistic Genius of Adults
Deb Fallows – The Linguistic Genius of Adults
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Year: 2011Type: tedx
Futurist Edie Weiner examines the accelerated speed of change and how that has ushered us into the "Emotile Economy" . She astutely illustrates that we are not in a recession, rather a fundamental transformation comprised of eight key "spaces".
Edie Wiener – Not Recession but Transformation
Edie Wiener – Not Recession but Transformation
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Year: 2011Type: tedx
How do you create a body of art that engages the public in a conversation about America? Acclaimed American figurative painter and sculptor Eric Fishcl invited 150 artists to create work to help re-direct the national conversation to a more centered place.
Eric Fischl – Seeing America: An Interview with Eric Fischl
Eric Fischl – Seeing America: An Interview with Eric Fischl
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Year: Type: tedx
How do you capture the essence of nature? Environmental economist turned award-winning photographer tells the journey of life for the last 6 billion years through stunning pictures of nature taken from the far reaches of the world.
Frans Lanting – Life: A Photographic Journey Through Time
Frans Lanting – Life: A Photographic Journey Through Time
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Year: 2010Type: tedx
In his humorous and uplifting style, Gever Tulley debunks classic myths of childhood safety. With rampant fear mongering, is it any wonder that children are actually over-protected? Instead, Tulley believes the most effective way to keep children safe is to give them a little taste of danger.
Gever Tulley – 5 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Children Do
Gever Tulley – 5 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Children Do
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Year: 2010Type: tedx
Architect Gordon Gill has a holistic approach to design, creating positive energy buildings that work with their natural surroundings. He walks through the Chicago Decarbonization Plan which allows urban population density to increase while a metropolitan city’s carbon footprint decreases. In addition, he shows off stunning buildings that puncture the stratosphere.
Gordon Gill – Supertall and Super Sustainable
Gordon Gill – Supertall and Super Sustainable
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Year: 2011Type: tedx
Why do we fall in love with the people that we do? Dr. Helen Fisher argues that the brain is one of the most powerful systems on earth, responsible for love through chemicals and complex thinking patterns. Her studies have identified both the smitten and broken hearted, uncovering the connection between how humans are drawn towards one another.
Helen Fisher – Biology of the Mind
Helen Fisher – Biology of the Mind
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Year: 2011Type: tedx
In the next 40 years, we have to produce as much food as we have in the last 8000. If we don't change our agricultural practices, we can't meet the food demand. Jason Clay provides a brilliant blueprint and compelling examples of success.
Jason Clay – How Do You Maintain the Planet and Feed 9 Billion People?
Jason Clay – How Do You Maintain the Planet and Feed 9 Billion People?
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Year: 2010Type: tedx
Where do you go when you want to get something done? People don't say "the office". Jason Fried takes a provocative look at why people don't do work in the office. His discovery: people trade in the work day for a series of work moments.
Jason Fried – Why Work Does not Happen at Work
Jason Fried – Why Work Does not Happen at Work
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Year: 2010Type: tedx
Data always has a story to tell. Jason Salavon manages to merge that data with stunning visuals in order to communicate the unconventional. He explores patterns across mediums, then lifts compelling content to reflect trends over time with beauty and finesse in the name of fine art.
Jason Salavon – Three Things About Art
Jason Salavon – Three Things About Art
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Year: 2011Type: tedx
Fearless journalist Jerry Mitchell discovers that the impossible becomes possible after Ku Klux Klan members were vindicated by unsolved murder cases from the Civil Rights era. His ability to live with reckless abandon helped uncover injustices that ultimately led to redemption after 20 years.
Jerry Mitchell – Lives That Matter
Jerry Mitchell – Lives That Matter
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Year: 2011Type: tedx
Fearless journalist Jerry Mitchell discovers that the impossible becomes possible after Ku Klux Klan members were vindicated by unsolved murder cases from the Civil Rights era. His ability to live with reckless abandon helped uncover injustices that ultimately led to redemption after 20 years.
Jerry Mitchell – Lives that Matter
Jerry Mitchell – Lives that Matter
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Year: 2011Type: TEDxYouth@Midwest
Jim Lasko seeks to disrupt. Through a unique combination of pageantry, puppetry, gadgetry, and acrobatics, he creates public art that dazzles. A passionate champion for community interactive events, he moves art to a social engagement.
Jim Lasko & Redmoon Theater – Spectacle
Jim Lasko & Redmoon Theater – Spectacle
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Year: 2010Type: tedx
John Hodgman is a captivating and spellbinding story teller. In his second talk of the conference, he shares his encounters with the wealthy elite on a Caribbean excursion with his family; re-learning peculiar lesson's that he's always known. His abstract delivery of these eccentric anecdotes are charming.
John Hodgman – That is All
John Hodgman – That is All
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Year: 2011Type: tedx
Self proclaimed "deranged millionaire" John Hodgeman, challenges us to consider how we prepare or avoid catastrophic disaster in an uncanny delivery that induces laughter and provokes thought. His theatrical delivery is coated with charm.
John Hodgman – The End is Nigh
John Hodgman – The End is Nigh
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Year: 2011Type: tedx
Year: 2011Type: tedx
Known for her four year run on Saturday Night Live, comedian Julia Sweeney reads from her latest book. Whether contemplating sin, standing in line at the post office, or talking to strangers, Julia takes a humorous, witty and introspective look at daily life.
Julia Sweeney – 10 Useful Things We Know About Ourselves
Julia Sweeney – 10 Useful Things We Know About Ourselves
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Year: 2010Type: tedx
The former, linear model of success is obsolete. Students are not getting the return on education investments that they did just 1 decade ago. Jullien Gordon helps this new generation realize their full potential by identifying four types of capital that blend work in harmony. The need for balance between book smarts and street smarts is more crucial than ever.
Jullien Gordon – Driving School for Life
Jullien Gordon – Driving School for Life
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Year: 2011Type: tedx
Imagine truffles with coconut and curry or dark chocolate with alderwood-smoked bacon. Culinary entrepreneur Katrina Markoff walks through the creative process in creating the most tempting exotic chocolate at Vosges Haut-Chocolat. Through classical culinary training from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and years of international travel, Markoff has developed an uncommonly exquisite sense of taste—grounding globally- inspired experimentation with time-honored techniques to build one seriously fast-growing chocolate company.
Katrina Markoff – Making Exotic Chocolate
Katrina Markoff – Making Exotic Chocolate
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Year: 2010Type: tedx
Kevin Bacon has starred in some of the most influential films in cinema history. Ingrained into our popular culture forever, Bacon's films span every genre of the human condition. In true Bacon style, he embraced the "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" trivia phenomenon and founded SixDegrees.org, a charitable initiative that links people to charities and each other for the purpose of making a difference.
Kevin Bacon – Six Degrees: From Cultural Sensation to Action
Kevin Bacon – Six Degrees: From Cultural Sensation to Action
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Year: 2011Type: tedx
Kevin Bacon – Six Degrees: From Cultural Sensation to Action
Kevin Bacon – Six Degrees: From Cultural Sensation to Action
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Year: 2011Type: tedx
Majora Carter is championing a movement that is rebuilding America one town at a time. She has a unique ability to find solutions which increase employment, improve the economy, and strengthen the environment. Dramatic results abound - from a novel solution for energy and water use in Los Angeles to converting a West Virginia coal town from coal to wind as the economic engine to forming a new beauty care company hiring ex-convicts thus keeping them from returning to jail.
Majora Carter – Going Local
Majora Carter – Going Local
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Year: 2010Type: tedx
Marc Ecko’s maxim “It’s not about what we make, But it is about how we make people feel” has catapulted him into uncharted success. As an artist first, his drive and passion has lead him to countless entrepreneurial successes from fashion to media. Here he challenges the audience to figure out their unique voice, in a unique way.
Mark Ecko – Awe!thenticity
Mark Ecko – Awe!thenticity
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Year: 2011Type: tedx
Why are humans unique? Paleontologist Meave Leakey has discovered some of the world's earliest hominids. Through her life's work in Kenya's Tarcana Basin, she unlocked more secrets of our ancestors. Humans are the only species destroying the environment in which they live. What went wrong?
Meave Leakey – Six Million Years to Evolve the Deadliest Species on Earth
Meave Leakey – Six Million Years to Evolve the Deadliest Species on Earth
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Year: 2010Type: tedx
What if your business card could simply read "inventor"? Pablos Holman gives a behind the scenes look into current projects that are making inventing a legitimate career choice. These discoveries have revealed radical solutions to big issues. From how to end Malaria with mosquito-zapping laser beams, to powering the world for the next thousand years from a uranium junkyard.
Pablos Holman – Inventing for the World’s Biggest Problems
Pablos Holman – Inventing for the World’s Biggest Problems
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Year: 2011Type: tedx
The mind of a hacker spins in a different direction. Upon encountering normal scenarios, they question how their ability to manipulate it according to their will. Pablos Holman divulges hacker secrets and how they can ultimately help arrive at radical solutions for global challenges.
Pablos Holman – Inventing for the World’s Largest Problems
Pablos Holman – Inventing for the World’s Largest Problems
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Year: 2011Type: tedx
You think your wireless and other technology is safe? From Blue Tooth to automobile remotes, PCs, and "secure" credit cards, Hacker extraordinaire shows how nearly every secure system is vulnerable.
Pablos Holman – Top Hacker Shows Us How It’s Done
Pablos Holman – Top Hacker Shows Us How It’s Done
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Year: 2010Type: tedx
If you are stretching the truth, Pam Meyer will know. The certified fraud examiner and author of Liespotting demonstrates how you too can spot a lie. Want to find a "tell"? Watch as Pam combines the science of detection and the art of listening to show you how when someone is lying.
Pam Meyer – Detecting Deception and a New Path to Trust
Pam Meyer – Detecting Deception and a New Path to Trust
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Year: Type: tedx
Paul Nicklen's brilliant images tell an enchanting story of Antarctic creatures in peril. His journalistic mission to protect what's at stake tells a story that can only be understood through his breath taking photos and adventurous tales with the wild.
Paul Nicklen – From Pole to Pole: Diary of a National Geographic Photojournalist
Paul Nicklen – From Pole to Pole: Diary of a National Geographic Photojournalist
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Year: 2011Type: tedx
Paul Nicklen's brilliant images tell an enchanting story of Antarctic creatures in peril. His journalistic mission to protect what's at stake tells a story that can only be understood through his breath taking photos and adventurous tales with the wild.
Paul Nicklen – Pole to Pole: Diary of a National Geographic Photojournalist
Paul Nicklen – Pole to Pole: Diary of a National Geographic Photojournalist
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Year: 2011Type: tedx
Acclaimed dinosaur hunter Paul Sereno crisscross crosses the world's most remote areas in pursuit of dinosaur fossils and groundbreaking scientific discovery. His discoveries include supercroc - a forty foot crocodile. Now he is infusing his delight in science to inner city kids through his nonprofit organization Project Exploration.
Paul Sereno – Dinosaurs on Drifting Continents
Paul Sereno – Dinosaurs on Drifting Continents
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Year: 2010Type: tedx
"What is science? According to Paul Sereno, it is adventure with a purpose. As one of the top dinosaur hunters in the world, Paul Sereno tells tales of his pursuit for fossils and groundbreaking scientific discovery that followed. His wild curiosity and artistic mindset have led to unearthing creatures such as Super Croc and Dog Croc.
Paul Sereno – Science: Adventure with a Purpose
Paul Sereno – Science: Adventure with a Purpose
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Year: 2011Type: tedx
Renown psychologist Phil Zimbardo examines the basic principles of Everyday Heroism. In doing so he investigates practical ways in which average people can enter into extraordinary good through small actions, and a little bit of courage.
Phil Zimbardo – Heroes
Phil Zimbardo – Heroes
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Year: 2011Type: tedx
Renown psychologist Phil Zimbardo asks whether the line between good and evil is fixed and impermeable or whether it is permeable; flowing across boundary in both directions. In doing so, he investigates three kinds of evil and how one's heroic disposition can combat them.
Phil Zimbardo – The Nature of Evil and the Making of Heroes
Phil Zimbardo – The Nature of Evil and the Making of Heroes
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Year: 2011Type: tedx
Rob Warden examines the phenomena of false confessions and how they can be attributed to half of all murder cases. His plan to eradicate them from the legal system has the potential to revolutionize the justice system as we know it.
Rob Warden – Wrongful Convictions
Rob Warden – Wrongful Convictions
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Year: 2011Type: tedx
While man has explored space, our oceans remain comparatively unexplored. Less than 5% of the ocean has been explored. With water the source of life and oceans the primary source of water, we must expand ocean exploration. Sylvia Earle, an elite marine scientist who has logged 6,500 hours under water, takes us on a journey into the marvels of the oceans.
Sylvia Earle – Oceans – Exploring the Deep
Sylvia Earle – Oceans – Exploring the Deep
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Year: 2010Type: tedx
A clip by The Interrupters shows a glimpse of life in an American city grappling with violence; afflicted by bullets and bloodshed. A candid panel of former convicts and gang members share their duty to end urban chaos by amplifying their community's story through film.
The Interrupters – Interrupting Violence
The Interrupters – Interrupting Violence
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Year: 2011Type: tedx
Time is finite. Tony Schwarz debunks the myth that “We are meant to run like computers; at high speeds for long periods of time”. He eloquently outlines how the reality of renewing our personal energy is just as important as expending it. This discipline grants value to rest which ultimately allows us to manage more skillful lives.
Tony Schwartz – The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working
Tony Schwartz – The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working
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Year: 2011Type: tedx
Award winning news anchor Tsi-tsi-ki Felix shares her personal story of how she transcended life in a poor community in Mexico, to become a leading personality for of the nation's biggest latino television networks.
Tsi-tsi-ki Félix – Greater Challenges Mean Greater Opportunities
Tsi-tsi-ki Félix – Greater Challenges Mean Greater Opportunities
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Year: 2011Type: tedx
How do we find solutions to our deepest differences - particularly given the propensity for human conflict. International crisis management consultant William Ury has spent nearly 4 decades facilitating solutions to some of the world's biggest conflicts.
William Ury – Getting to Yes in the Real World – creating agreement in the most difficult situations
William Ury – Getting to Yes in the Real World – creating agreement in the most difficult situations
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Year: 2010Type: tedx
Rainforest conservationist Willie Smits is pioneering ways to restore rainforests devastated by agriculture and mining growth. His approach expands economic options for local human populations beyond short-term harvesting and creates an economically sustainable solution. His novel approach focuses on tapping the unique assets of the rainforest itself.
Willie Smits – Sustainability Starts at the Village Level
Willie Smits – Sustainability Starts at the Village Level
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Year: 2010Type: tedx
At only 19 years old, Zoe Damacela is running her own independent fashion line, has graced the cover of Seventeen Magazine, and has been invited to the White House to share her entrepreneurial successes. Her light and bubbly account of recent whirlwind achievements in her young career showcases that talent prevails over experience.
Zoë Damacela – Building a Business Around What You’re Good At
Zoë Damacela – Building a Business Around What You’re Good At
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Year: 2011Type: tedx
Speakers
TEDxMidwest is known for its world class speakers, including inventor Dean Kamen, psychologist Phil Zimbardo, hacker Pablos Holman and National Geographic photographer Paul Nicklen.
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Attendees
There will be over 600 amazing attendees including 400 CEOs and Presidents, 150 artists and performance professionals, heads of major cultural institutions, 50 top high school students, and dozens of MacArthur, Pulitzer, Polk, Peabody, and Nobel prize winners.
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